


Beginnings

by shazamitylam



Series: Cycles [2]
Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-07 14:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11625933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shazamitylam/pseuds/shazamitylam
Summary: Time after time, she has never seen 9S cry.





	Beginnings

When she wakes, the gentle breeze is the first thing that she feels. It caresses her face and carries the faint scent of nature that she’s gotten used to during her time on Earth, so different from the clinical coolness of the Bunker. The cloudless sky greets her when she opens her eyes.

She lies there for a moment, taking in the tranquility that she finds is a dramatic contrast to the fighting that she’d been doing for so long. The Bunker, the machines, the logic virus…

Where is she? What happens to androids when they truly die?

“Good morning, 2B.”

2B sits up, startled by the pod’s greeting. “What...?”

Pod 042, positioned on the floor instead of hovering as usual, seems to hesitate before answering. “Project YorHa has concluded, but Units 2B, 9S, and A2 have been restored.”

“9S?” With an intake of breath, she whips around. 9S is...safe. Alive. He’s sprawled out on the rooftop as she was a few seconds ago, but there seem to be no signs of damage.

“How was he after...after I got infected?”  _ After I died?  _ It seems so surreal, as if she’d merely fallen asleep and awoken after a storm.

“Unit 9S was in severe emotional distress. Unfortunately, his deteriorating state of mind and his desire for revenge led to a fight to the death with A2.”

2B closes her eyes, fingers clenching around one of 9S’s sleeves. She should have known something like this would happen. She should have warned 9S or explained to him that it had been too late for her. 

Opening her eyes again, she watches as 9S shifts, eyelids twitching. 2B purses her lips, desperately hoping that his grief no longer grips him so tightly, that his temporary death freed him from that intense desire for revenge and reckless destruction.

With a small huff, 9S wakes up. For a tense moment, his eyes remain blank, not even moving to meet her own. Then they rapidly fill with confusion, and he gasps and clutches at his abdomen, patting around for a phantom wound. 

“9S,” she says. Her voice comes out too unsteadily for her liking. When he finally looks at her, she realizes that there is an unfamiliar  _ fear  _ crawling into her heart. By this point, he must have found out what she truly is, what she’s been hiding for so long. She fears that some part of his loss of control stems from his bitterness against her.

But the fear is overtaken by pure  _ relief  _ when 9S says her name back to her, two syllables spoken in a soft, hopeful voice rather than a harsh one. There’s a darkness in his eyes that she hasn’t seen before, but he seems calm for now. 

“How?” he asks, sitting up with her help. His expression is pinched, as if he’s remembering something he’d rather not. 2B wonders what happened with A2 and hopes that the other android is safe, wherever she is.

“The pods. They brought us back somehow.”

_ A second chance.  _ 9S seems to realize the implications, too. “What now?” he breathes. 

They look out at the city ruins together, a flock of birds fluttering over their heads. “I don’t know,” 2B says quietly, “but we have time to figure it out.”

When she looks back at him, his cheeks are wet with tears. “9S!” she calls out in alarm. In all the time that she has known him, all of the times that she has  _ killed  _ him, she has never seen him cry. “Are you all right?”

9S laughs, and it’s a sound halfway between pain and joy, disbelief and acceptance. “I don’t know,” he echoes, “but we have time to figure it out.” He smiles at her, and she lets herself return the expression. There are issues between them, thousands of unspoken words and secrets. When she hesitantly puts out her hand between them, 9S shakes as he reaches out to hold it, as if he doesn’t trust himself. They’re both weighed down by guilt, one from carrying out countless executions and one from a terrible rage that probably still resides inside him.

At least they’re alive. 9S is crying and so is she, but she’s starting to think that tears don’t have to be born of sadness or anger. They’re free from the roles placed on them by a false representation of humanity, free to do what they want on an Earth that’s emptier than before. 

As they pull each other up, she sees his eyes glisten with cautious determination rather than betrayal; that’s enough to let her hope that there’s a better future in store for them.  


End file.
